A leading scholar in immigration, constitutional law and international law, David A. Martin has helped shape immigration and refugee policy while serving in several key U.S. government posts. He joined the Virginia law faculty in 1980, after a period of private practice in Washington, D.C., and service as special assistant to the assistant secretary in the State Department’s new human rights bureau. He has published numerous books and articles in scholarly journals, including a leading casebook on immigration and citizenship law, now in its seventh edition. His op-ed commentary has been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Legal Times, and The National Law Journal, among others.

As principal deputy general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security from January 2009 to December 2010, and in earlier government service at the Department of State and the Department of Justice (including an appointment as general counsel to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1995-98), Martin was closely involved in critical legal and policy developments in the immigration field. These included the Refugee Act of 1980, a major alteration of U.S. asylum procedures in 1995, implementation of the 1996 statutory amendments to the immigration laws, Obama administration reforms of enforcement priorities and the detention system used in connection with immigration removal proceedings, and the federal government’s 2010 lawsuit against Arizona’s restrictive immigration enforcement law. He also served as DHS’ representative on the interdepartmental task forces created by President Obama’s executive orders for evaluating the cases of all detainees at Guantánamo and for reviewing overall detention policies in the battle against terrorism.

A graduate of DePauw University and Yale Law School (where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal), Martin served as a law clerk for Judge J. Skelly Wright and Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. In 1988 he chaired the Immigration Section of the Association of American Law Schools, and from 2003-05 he served as vice president of the American Society of International Law. He has held a German Marshall Fund fellowship for research in Geneva, and he serves on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law and the International Migration Review.

Immigration Controls: The Search for Workable Policies in Germany and the United States (ed. with Kay Hailbronner & Hiroshi Motomura), Vol. 4 of Migration and Refugees: Politics and Policies in the United States and Germany (Myron Weiner, general editor) (Berghahn Books, 1998).

Immigration Admissions: the Search for Workable Policies in Germany and the United States (ed. with Kay Hailbronner & Hiroshi Motomura), Vol. 3 of Migration and Refugees: Politics and Policies in the United States and Germany (Myron Weiner, general editor), 284 pp. (Berghahn Books, 1997).

“Eight Myths about Immigration Enforcement,” in David Coates & Peter Siavelis, eds., Getting Immigration Right: What Every American Needs to Know 149 (Potomac Books, 2009).“Refining Immigration Law’s Role in Counterterrorism,” in Benjamin Wittes, ed., Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform 180 (Brookings Institution Press, 2009).

Foreword to the Seventh Edition: Asylum Case Law in 2006-2007: A Year of Dialogue Between Courts and Agencies, in Asylum Case Law Sourcebook: Master Index and Case Abstracts for U.S. Court Decisions v (Thomson/West, 7th ed. 2007).

Foreword to the Sixth Edition: Major Developments in Asylum Law over the Past Year, in Asylum Case Law Sourcebook: Master Index and Case Abstracts for U.S. Court Decisions (Thomson/West, 6th ed. 2006).

"Citizenship in Countries of Immigration: Introduction," in Thomas Alexander Aleinikoff & Douglas Klusmeyer, eds., From Migrants to Citizens: Membership in a Changing World 25 (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000).

"New Developments in Refugee Law and Current Problems: Asylum Concept; Solidarity; and the Concept of Burden-Sharing," in Symposium on the Promotion, Dissemination and Teaching of Fundamental Human Rights of Refugees (Tokyo, 7-11 December, 1981): Collected Proceedings 61-71 (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 1982).

“Judicial Review and the Military Commissions Act: On Striking the Right Balance,” 101 Am. J. Int’l L. 344 (2007).

“What Lures Them Here: Changes to Immigration Law Should Focus Less on the Border and More on the Job,” Legal Times, May 29, 2006, at 66. “Major Developments in Asylum Law over the Past Year,” 83 Interpreter Releases 1889 (Sept. 1, 2006).

"Offshore Detainees and the Role of Courts after Rasul v. Bush: The Underappreciated Virtues of Deferential Review," 25 B.C. Third World L.J. 125 (2005).SSRN

Policy Brief “Immigration Enforcement: Beyond the Border and the Workplace,” Migration Policy Institute, (released in connection with the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future) July 2006.

Statement on "Immigration and the Organization of the Homeland Security Department," U.S. Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Hearing, June 26, 2002.

Statement in Terrorism, Asylum Issues, and U.S. Immigration Policy 43-54, 95, 100. U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Hearing, May 28, 1993.

Statement. "Haitian Detention and Interdiction," 189-206. U.S. Congress. House Committee on the Judiciary. Hearing, June 8, 1989.

"Employer sanctions and the Immigration Reform and Control Act," in The Basics of Immigration Law VI-1 to VI-15 (Virginia Law Foundation, 1987).

Statement in Immigration Reform and Control Act 326-346. U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings, Feb. 24-Mar. 7, 1983.

Statement in The U.S. Supreme Court Decision Concerning the Legislative Veto 129-158. U.S. Congress. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Hearings, July 19-21, 1983.